Where Do We Come From? What Are We?
Where Are We Going?
The VRA at 25: Understanding our Past & Framing a Future
Elizabeth Gushee, Moderator
Ben Kessler
Marcia Focht
Virginia Kerr
Ann Whiteside
Where do we come from?
A History of the Visual Resources Association
Ben Kessler
American Red Cross
Prehistory
1968-1979
Visual resources curators begin
annual meetings at:
• College Art Association (CAA), 1968
• Mid-America College Art Association
(MACAA), 1972
• Southeastern College Art Conference
(SECAC), 1976
• Art Libraries Society of North America
(ARLIS/NA), 1975
• Comité International d'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA),
1979
1973-74
• We have no desire to separate from the CAA, but, staying in, we must work
out a stronger and more formalized affiliation.
• We should survey and publish on classification, storage, etc.
• We should establish training centers with approved curricula...so library
schools would not be the only accredited training.
Nancy DeLaurier to Anne Coffin Hanson, CAA President, September 1973
• The [CAA] Executive Committee…feel that it would be wrong to make special
arrangements with any group within the CAA. Once such a practice were
begun it would create impossible administrative complexity and might well work
against the aims of the organization.
Anne Coffin Hanson, CAA President, in reply, November 1973
• A Visual Resources Committee shall be established within the CAA.
Resolved at CAA Conference, January 1974
• Unless there is some structure to a professional group, accomplishment
becomes mediocre. ARLIS/NA is providing the structure and the challenge to
accomplish goals and create standards for the professionals who work with
visual resources.
Judith Hoffberg, Past Chairman, ARLIS/NA, early 1974
1975-76
Information kits 1975-76:
• Audio Visual Equipment (Nancy Schuller, University of Texas)
• Copy-Photographic Equipment and Processes (Gail Grise, Indiana
University)
• Salaries and Budgets (Alice Holcomb, Northern Illinois University)
• Circulation Policies (Zelda Richardson, U. of New Mexico)
• Slide Label Typewriters (Eileen Fry, Indiana University)
• Reference Materials (Eileen Fry, Indiana University)
• Slide Mounting (Gillian Scott, Carlton University)
• Storage Equipment (Jane Goldberg, University of Illinois)
Visual resources as a
branch of an
overarching
discipline, i.e. art
librarianship.
Visual resources
based on subject
knowledge and
specialized skills.
Get an MLS!
What for?
Use MARC and
AACR2.
Good luck!
1977
Statement on Professional Status for Curators/Directors of
Visual Resources Collections for the Fine Arts (approved by
CAA Board of Directors, October 1977)
• A qualified professional is mandatory for the efficient operation and
development of a fine arts visual resources collection.
• The professional status of qualified visual resources personnel should
be recognized. This status should require academic qualifications or
their full equivalent, and carry a professional title; this status should be
accorded a rank equivalent to that of other professionals in the institution
with commensurate salary and benefits.
• Participation in the activities of national and regional organizations and
attendance at related conferences is essential and, therefore, should be
facilitated by the institution in every feasible manner.
The 1980s: Formation
1980
CAA VR Committee = ineffective
ARLIS = philosophical issues
MACAA = regionally limited
1980
1982
Organizational Plebiscite (presented to International
Bulletin subscribers by Nancy Kirkpatrick, MACAA Secretary,
Spring 1982)
1. Maintain the status quo
2. Make an existing group such as ARLIS or the
Special Libraries Association the focus for all
national VR activities.
3. Form an information clearinghouse to
coordinate the VR activities of other organizations
1
11
1
4. Form a new and separate nationwide VR
organization
29
Total
42
1983
1984-1988
1988-1990
Development of tools for standards (MARC advisory
committee, AAT workshop).
First look at electronic imaging projects (Kathy Cohen,
Howard Besser).
Task force to draft standards for professional status
1988-1990
The 1990s: Codification
1990-1995
Special issue of Visual Resources: an International
Journal of Documentation entitled “On Professionalism,”
Edited by Becky Hoort (Gordon & Breach, 1990, VI: 4)
VRA/ARLIS Joint Task Force on Professional Issues First
convened 1992, Margaret Webster, chair
Criteria for the Hiring and Retention of Visual Resources
Professionals Adopted by the ARLIS/NA Executive Board and the VRA
Board of Directors August & June, 1995; revised in October 2002
1990-1995
“Beginning with this fall’s membership renewals, we will
be including a place for you to list your electronic mail
address…The VRA now has a LISTSERV address to
which anyone with access to the Internet can subscribe.”
Christine Hilker, VRA Bulletin (Summer 1991)
1990-1995
VRA Data Standards Committee (1993, Linda McRae, chair) :
Areas of investigation
Data elements
• Categories designed to carry
specific units of information in
automated records, e.g.: Creator,
Title, Date
Descriptive practice
• Ways in which descriptive
information is represented in
each category, e.g.: proper
way of designating “Follower
of”
Interpretive practice
• Ways of assist in the translation
of visual information into language
when concrete descriptive
information is lacking, e.g.:
guidelines for applying subject
terms
Authoritative sources
• Standards that inform the
choice of terms that apply to a
category of information, e.g.:
ULAN, AAT, LCSH
Formats
• Standards that define
technical specifications,
formats, and protocols for the
exchange of text and image
data, e.g.: MARC, SGML,
TIFF, JPEG
1990-1995
Conference on Fair Use (CONFU), 1994-96,
participating organizations:
American Association of Community Colleges
American Association of Museums
American Council of Learned Societies
American Society of Media Photographers
American Society of Picture Professionals
Art Libraries Society of North America
Association of American Publishers
Association of American Universities
Association of Art Museum Directors
Association of College and Research Libraries
Association of Research Libraries
Coalition of Consumer's Picture Rights
College Art Association
Consortium of College and University Media Centers
Corbis Corporation
Creative Incentive Coalition
The J. Paul Getty Trust
Instructional Telecommunications Council
Library of Congress/National Digital Library Project
Medical Library Association
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Humanities
National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage
National Science Teachers Association
Picture Agency Council of America
Special Libraries Association
U.S. Copyright Office
Visual Resources Association
1995-2000
Core 1.0 (1996)
Core 2.0 (1997)
OBJECT CATEGORIES
Object Type
Titles
Dimensions
Materials
Techniques
Dates
Subjects
Repository Name
Repository Place
Repository Number
Site
Larger Entity Names
Notes
WORK CATEGORIES
Work Type
Title
Measurements
Material
Technique
Date
Repository Name
Repository Place
Repository Number
Current Site
Original Site
Style/Period/Group/Movement
Creator
Role
Nationality/Culture
Subject
Related Work
Relationship Type
Notes
CREATOR CATEGORIES
Creator
Nationality
Culture
SURROGATE CATEGORIES
VISUAL DOCUMENT
View Description
CATEGORIES
Image Type
Vis.
Doc.
Type
Image Owner
Vis. Doc. Format
Image Owner Number
Vis. Doc. Measurements
Source
Vis. Doc. Date
Vis. Doc. Owner
Vis. Doc. Owner Number
Vis. Doc. View Description
Vis. Doc. Subject
Vis. Doc. Source
1995-2000
The Acquisition and Use of Images in Non-Profit
Educational Visual Resources Collections Published by the
VRA Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (Kathe Albrecht chair), 1999.
Copy Photography Computator (for determining
intellectual property restrictions and fair use) Developed by
Allan Kohl, released 2001.
1995-2000
The 2000s:Transformation
2000-2007
2000-2007
<agentSet>
<display>Designed by McKim, Mead & White</display>
<agent>
<name type="corporate">McKim, Mead & White </name>
<dates type="activity">
<earliestDate>1879</earliestDate>
<latestDate>1919</latestDate>
</dates>
<culture vocab="AAT">American</culture>
<role vocab="AAT">architects</role>
</agent>
</agentSet>
<dateSet>
<display>Built 1902-1911 (demolished 1965)</display>
<date type="creation">
<earliestDate>1902</earliestDate>
<latestDate>1911</latestDate>
</date>
2000-2007
Art Libraries Society of North America 30th/
Visual Resources Association 20th
Joint Annual Conference. St. Louis, 2002
2000-2007
Administrative improvements:
• Office of Vice President divided into two positions
(Conference Arrangements & Conference Program).
• Membership Coordinator becomes paid position.
• Executive Board position created for Public Relations
and Communications Officer.
with thanks to the VRA Presidents:
Christine Sundt (1982-1988)
Eleanor Fink (1988-1990)
Carla Johnson (1990-1992)
Christina Updike (1992-1994)
Sandra Walker (1994-1996)
Joseph Romano (1996-1998)
Jenni Rodda (1998-2000)
Ann Whiteside (2000-2002)
Elisa Lanzi (2002-2004)
Kathe Hicks Albrecht (2004-2006)
Virginia (Macie) Hall (2006- )
…and (who have seen it all)
Helen Chillman
Eileen Fry
Margaret Webster
and a very big thanks to:
Leigh Gates
Martine Sherrill